Grad Night Playlist

I can still taste the excitement I had 20 years ago when I began pursuing a degree in Environmental Science at Washington State University. I deeply cared about nature and was sensitive to its loss through man's foolishness. I was also at the same time beginning to explore Christianity and what salvation in Jesus Christ meant. It was here I encountered a crossroads. Prominent environmentalists would argue that the Bible was the source of our environmental crisis. To "subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures" was tantamount to giving license to humanity to use up the earth any way we saw fit. Unfortunately, I found very few Christian voices at the time who would counter their idea and some who would agree. Most had no clear understanding. I was tied up in knots between passion and faith. Over time I chose faith, and left environmentalism dormant within me. I decided, perhaps selfishly, that saving my soul was more important than saving the earth.

Looking back, I realize I made the "suckers" choice. I was trapped in an either/or crises designed to derail my faith or wall off my desire. Today, I have a different perspective, one that I believe is Biblical. The answer is yes to both. God cares about His creation, and has established it's redemption. Note this well traveled scripture in Matthew 3:2 "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." John the Baptist spent his wilderness ministry preparing people for an event- the time when God's kingdom would be the ruling paradigm over all the earth. John's passion acknowledged that God's plan was coming close to being realized, even announcing this when he first met Jesus Christ, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). John later explains that this lamb is the Messiah, or expected one that to the Jews of his day would usher in God's Kingdom.

That Jesus would be the one to accomplish the redemption of Creation is seen in Jesus' announcement of His own ministry within his inaugural Nazareth sermon (recorded only in Luke 4:18-19, though Matthew 4:15-16 sees Jesus fulfilling the same role). Luke's passage points to Jesus as the one who will bring about the restoration of God's people from exile (Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61:1-2). Note that while Jesus and the Jews living in Israel at the time were the ancestors of those who returned to the land over four centuries earlier, the Jews had no actual sense of "home" or re-gaining of God's inheritance for them. Rome was unquestionably her imperial overseer, who allowed Herod to reign. God's presence had not filled the temple (compare the first temple dedication in 1 Kings 8:10-12 with the second temple dedication in Ezra 6:13-18). Herod's current, and arguably ill conceived, temple project was financed through heavy taxation upon the people (see Matt 17:24-27, 21:12-13). The people had not yet experienced a true return from exile described in Isaiah chapters 61 and 62. That being the case, the audacity of Jesus' announcement in Luke 4:18-19 culminates in his claim in in 4:21 "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing". In other words, Jesus is saying "I am your restoration to God, I have brought it about."

So how does Christ restore Creation? The critical link is found in mankind's role as steward found in Genesis chapter 2. Man was placed in God's garden to "work and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). Man in God's economy was creation's caretaker. The man and woman created to care for God's paradise quickly dumped their "caretaker" role for the opportunity to "be their own boss" in Genesis Chapter 3. There choice, when they were tempted, to be "like God [deciding] good and evil" (Genesis 3:4) left them separated from God, dead to their source of life (Gen 2:7). Man's severance from God took little time to ripple down to the created order. The earth immediately produced "thorns and thistles" from mans' labor, but only one generation later, Cain's murder of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:10) desecrated the earth, nursing blood from Cain's hand. Man's relationship to the earth from that point on was a twisted dominion, given over to abuse. The solution that God has proposed is reconciliation. Because man was unable and unwilling to restore himself to God, God reconciled us to Himself by the work of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). By entering into Christ's reconciliation, we are restored to God. Because of our connection to Christ, the earth will enjoy restoration, and eagerly awaits for the time when God's Kingdom is fully manifested upon the earth (Romans 8:19-22).

So, now I am a pastor, but my life's work has the end view of restoring Creation. I now have my cake, and eat too. God is great at doing that.

Books I would recommend

Watership Down -Richard Adams
Leadership is an Art -Max DePree
Missional Church -Darrell Guder
Breakout Churches -Thom Rainer
In the Name of Jesus -Henri Nouwen
God's Empowering Presence -Gordon Fee
Jesus and the Victory of God -N.T. Wright